What does it mean when planets are in retrograde? And what it means for you...

You may have seen people referring in the past to various planets in retrograde being at cause for some emotional or physical turbulence that’s going on in their lives, and wondered why? 

Or you may have noticed that your emotions are particularly swirly right now and there doesn’t seem to be any rational explanation for it, especially now that places are beginning to open back up - shouldn’t you be feeling better, you wonder?

I just wanted to give you a little inside intel on what is happening on Earth (from a basic level of understanding in the way it makes sense to me. I don’t study this. I just surround myself with experts who do)

Planets being in retrograde may be the CATALYST to some emotional upheaval, but they aren’t the CAUSE.

The cause is all the trauma you have collected over your life, or that was handed to from your ancestors at birth that is now ready for you to take action to clear.

When a planet goes retrograde it is literally backtracking over different aspects of your life that need to be cleaned out.

They are essentially acting like the mom in the kitchen who has decided it’s time to empty and sort the junk drawer, toss anything that no longer has a purpose, and sorts and organizes everything that is left into a neat and easy-to-find order.

So what happens if your junk drawer is actually an entire closet or garage of stuff you’ve been piling and pushing aside to “deal with” later?

Well, initially, you have a great, big, sticky, oozy mess on your hands.

Now is the perfect time to sort and discard old wounds, traumas, events and behaviors that are no longer serving you and to take an inventory on how you choose your life to be moving forward.

Usually we only have to contest with 1 or 2 planets in retrograde so we can keep our organization to a couple of particular areas.

But right now we have FIVE planets in retrograde which is causing us to have to pause what we are doing and REALLY take a deep dive into the cave of our psyche.

You have a choice right now. You can keep sweeping discomforts under the carpet, hoping they’ll magically correct themselves and dissolve (spoiler alert: they won’t!). Or you can lean into it, swim into it, strap on a life jacket and wade into the murky waters of the unknown in your unconscious and do some deep cleaning.

I understand your reluctance. I’m not a fan of deep cleaning myself. I hire people to hold me accountable to my own, or I would never do it! But I’m game if you are. ??

This is what each planet in retrograde roughly represents and the action it is calling for:

Mercury - this is the planet of the logical mind and linear thinking, gathering and containing facts and knowledge. It also rules communication and technology.

When Mercury goes retrograde, we are being called to tip logic on its head and take a look at a problem sideways. Where have we been thinking too linearly, and need to get a bit more abstract to find a solution? Where have we been biting our tongues and need to be more forthright about what we are feeling and thinking? Where have we been relying too much on technology and need to connect with the world around us in a more meaningful way, that is outside of the box? Take the time now to do an inventory and make necessary corrections.

Venus - as the “Goddess of Love “, Venus represents partnership, beauty, sensuality, pleasure and all things of the material world. Venus is driven by her sensual appetite and her desire for connection.

We are being called to take a look at our partnerships and evaluate what we want vs what we need. Where does what you want misalign with what you are working for? Are you calling in your Mr/ Mrs Right but are refusing to put in the work to heal your old, toxic relationship patterns? Have you been sacrificing your needs and desires in a partnership in order not to rock the boat? Have you been suppressing your sensuality out of fear or judgement? Have you been settling for a life of mediocrity when you actually desire a life surrounded by softness, delicious food and yummy experiences? Now is the time to take a look at this area and work to correct what needs to be corrected.

Saturn - This planet is associated with structure of consciousness. It is the “box” we define ourselves by. It is the rules we follow, the systems we create, and the conditioning we have adopted from all of time. It represents CONTROL, the wise elder holding us responsible and requiring our effort and maturity during the growth process. It is the very nature of discipline itself.

When Saturn goes retrograde it is asking us to take a deep look, firstly, at the systems and rules we have adopted. At our deepest conditioning. At where we blindly act and follow, when we should be using intuition and reasoning. Next it calls us to deconstruct those systems to the ground, clear out what we have grown out of, and piece the systems and rules back together in a way that reflects our growth, maturity and evolution of soul. It is a time of deconstruction and intentional reconstruction in a more meaningful way.

Jupiter - Represents our personal truth and our belief systems, and represents expansion, opportunities and abundance. It connects with other cultures, beliefs, philosophies of life.

When it goes retrograde we are being called to evaluate how we perceive the world from a non-linear perspective. What in our belief systems have we been holding to that is obsolete? Where have we been stifling our own expansion? Where has our fear of that which is different to us, robbed us of the opportunity to learn from those things, instead of shying away from them? Where does our inside world of wisdom, knowledge and intuition need a massive overhaul? Where have we been limiting our abundance based on incorrect beliefs that have been projected on us from the outside world? This retrograde offers a powerful opportunity for our next expansion should we choose to do the work to go there.

Pluto - (one of my FAVORITE planets) This is the symbol of the soul. It represents the unique and distinct soul expression of who we are and the specific arena of life where this is most focused and expressed. It is the area where life will show you the most powerful lessons and potential wounds.

Here, in retrograde, we are being called to notice how true to our original soul self we are being, or where we have fallen into the rut of life.

Are we living? Are we expressing our truest selves? Are we allowing the gravitational pull of our soul to guide us to our most powerful expression of life, or are we just going with the flow of everyone around us? Are we taking a unique stand for ourselves, or are we hiding in the shadows, afraid of the unknown? Afraid of what might happen if we actually show up as our genuine truest selves? What needs to be released, let go and incinerated in order for you to step out of the shadows, uncloaked, unmasked with zero doubt about who you are and who you were born to be? Now is the time to take a dive into that.

So, as you can see darling, this is a time for a deep, deep soul cleanse to find out what you are made of and what needs to change.

If you were looking for a sign from the universe... here it is!

If you were looking for a permission slip to step into the light, you have now officially been granted permission.

May I recommend that you use this time wisely, and know that you’re not alone ??